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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — a group
  4. mug — to rob
  5. mug — a face
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. capital — a city
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. branch — a division
  12. wound — an injury
  13. bear — the animal
  14. shower — rain
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wound — an injury
  17. mug — a cup
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — the animal
  21. shower — to wash
  22. club — for dancing
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. capital — a big letter

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com